RESTORE Summer Report
RESTORE is alive and well! During the second quarter of 2019, RESTORE provided food to 1,665 households. This represents a nearly 40% increase over 1,193 families that RESTORE served over the same three-month period in 2018.
One of the ways that RESTORE raises money to purchase supplementary food items is by holding occasional yard sales. They use these events to sell donated items that people bring to RESTORE on an almost daily basis. RESTORE also allows other vendors to rent and set up selling spaces alongside them, thereby creating a real community flea market atmosphere. The next RESTORE yard sale will be held on Saturday, August 10th. We hope to have many sellers and buyers participate.
Our Summer Restoration Project
Thanks to the men and women who have participated in our campus cleanup efforts this summer. Over the past five Wednesday mornings, we have cleaned windows, power-washed buildings and sidewalks, trimmed bushes and trees, and even begun some painting and repair efforts. Next Wednesday (July 24th) will be our last summer workday, and we hope to see as many as can make it.
While some have been generous with their time, others have been generous with their treasure. At the request of the trustees last Sunday, a total of $359 was raised—enough to purchase 4 5-gallon buckets of exterior paint. A $200 cash donation was made to purchase a new exterior door and lockset for the youth building, and additional money has been promised to help repair our gazebo and replace our side sanctuary doors.
As Gary, our head trustee has put it: Our campus did not fall into disrepair overnight, and everything will not be fixed overnight either. But with the congregation’s help, we can continue to restore and beautify our facilities and make it more welcoming to our community.
Breakfast at our New Worship Service
Our growing 8:00 AM worship service will now include a continental breakfast. This service is informally held in our Fellowship Hall. It has been designed to meet the worship needs of families and others with a busy Sunday schedule. Drop in, share a mini breakfast from 7:30—8:00 AM, worship your savior, and fellowship with friends and neighbors. Your family is then invited to attend adult and children small groups at 9:00 AM.
Summer Celebration
We will celebrate VBS Sunday for our neighborhood children and their families on Sunday, July 21st. The Care Committee will have an ice cream social reception immediately following the 10:30 AM service to conclude that celebration.
English and Spanish GED Classes
Coming in the Fall
Lay Pastor Norma Encarnacion and RUMC is partnering with the neighborhood ECHO facility to provide English and Spanish GED classes in the fall of 2019. Enrollment for these classes will begin in August. Look in this space for more details and enrollment information.
Legacy Fund
Riverview First United Methodist Church was founded in 1846—the very first Methodist church in Hillsborough County, Florida. In a couple of years, we will be 175 years old. We have been serving the Riverview community from our corner at Riverview Drive and U.S. 301 South for several generations.
As our church buildings and grounds continue to age, (along with many in our congregation), we recognize that soon many major repairs will need to be made. The roofs of our sanctuary and our youth building will need to be replaced sometime within the next few years. Our air conditioning systems are failing with increased frequency, and replacement parts for these units (installed before 1975) are becoming harder to find. Dead trees need to be removed, and many of our large oaks need to be trimmed throughout the property. Our wish list for future improvements include adding a bathroom in the sanctuary building and a playground area for our children.
Accordingly, the Finance Committee and the Trustees have created a Legacy Fund—a savings account held at the Florida United Methodist Foundation in Lakeland. We have pledged to add $100 a week to the Legacy Fund. We have an initial goal of raising $25,000 to replace our sanctuary roof within five years.
Our regular general fund is used to pay staff salaries, to fund programs like VBS and children and adult education, to pay our apportionments and other connectional obligations, and to pay our utilities and routine maintenance. We also have a dedicated building fund which we use to make emergency repairs, which recently have included air conditioning repair, and significant repairs to the septic and plumbing systems at the parsonage.
The Legacy Fund is over and above these funding sources. Its purpose is to provide a savings vehicle to help us meet anticipated future buildings and grounds improvements. It is not a replacement for the other funds, but an additional way for our members to commit a portion of their treasure for the future survival and growth of our church.
We are asking that everyone occasionally designate a little extra in their offering envelope towards the Legacy Fund. We are looking to increase our overall giving by about $100 per week over our average weekly giving of about $4,000—an increase of about 2.5%. The Legacy Fund is also a way for our older members to designate a bequest as part of their estate planning.
We are all looking forward to 2021 when RUMC can wave its banner high at the Florida Annual Conference as we will celebrate 175 years of continuous service to the Riverview community.
Sunday Services
Early Worship Service,
8:00 AM
Sunday School, 9:00 AM
Relationships/Refreshments, 10:00 AM-10:25 AM
Worship Service, 10:30 AM
Hispanic Worship Service
12:00 Noon
Rev. Louis Telcy, Pastor
Norma Encarnacion, Lay Pastor, Hispanic Congregationn
Here at Riverview First United Methodist Church, it is our mission to win people to Christ, to train believers to become disciples, and to send disciples to impact our community and the world for Jesus Christ.
8002 U. S. Highway 301 South, Riverview, FL 33578 813-677-5995
Download the Prayer Tree for
July 21, 2019 from this link.
Download the June, 2019
Bell Newsletter from this link.
Online Giving at RUMC
Giving online is easy and allows you to set up automatic recurring contributions and view your complete online giving history from anywhere you have access to the Internet. Or you can enter one-time contributions from the internet or by smart phone.
To get started, simply follow these easy steps:
- Click on the Online Giving button below. This will take you to our church’s online giving webpage.
- Click on our Create Profile button on that webpage.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to create an online profile and to schedule your recurring or one-time contributions.
Bible Verse for the Week
Salt and Light
“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16 (The Message)
